For three days, beginning on March 22, 1992, Chad Erickson was the starting goaltender for the New Jersey Devils. He played two games that week, winning one and losing one, and never played another game in the National Hockey League.

Erickson, 41, retired from the game more than a decade ago and has returned to the same quiet Minnesota town where he grew up to raise his family. The man who started in goal for the third game that week, Martin Brodeur, is still chasing his fourth Stanley Cup title with the Devils after performing yet another act of heroism for the team earlier this week.

“I mean, really, it’s amazing that he’s lasted this long,” Erickson said Thursday. “And not hung around and been a backup. He’s been the guy. That’s pretty incredible. You’re not going to find many guys able to do that.”

Brodeur stopped 21 of 22 shots Wednesday night to save the Devils from the indignity of a series sweep against the Los Angeles Kings. It was his 112th career playoff win, second most in league history.

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Erickson, the last man to tend goal for the Devils before Brodeur made his debut in 1992, has not worn goaltending equipment in 12 years. He retired after a career spent exploring the wilds of minor-league hockey, with the Austin Ice Bats, San Angelo Outlaws and Tulsa Oilers counting as his final stops.

“I retired when my goalie equipment retired,” he said with a chuckle. “My wife actually threw away my goalie skates because they had rust on the blades, and she didn’t realize that didn’t really matter. And I was, like, ‘Well, I’m not going to go buy another pair of goalie skates.”

Erickson is 21 months older than Brodeur. New Jersey took him in the seventh round of the 1988 NHL draft and signed him to a four-year deal one month before he was to begin his senior year at the University of Minnesota Duluth, where he had been named an all-American as a sophomore.

The Devils were infusing the organization with fresh blood. It seemed like a good time to make the jump. In March, after spending most of his first professional season in the American Hockey League, Erickson received the call.

New Jersey starters Craig Billington and Chris Terreri were hurt. After joining the team at the tail end of a road trip, Erickson was given a start. On March 22, 1992, he faced the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden.

“You’re kind of in awe,” Erickson said. “You think about making it to the NHL, but then you get there and then you see all these stars out there in warm-ups. And I just remember just looking down at the Ranger team and thinking, ‘What am I doing here?’ ”

The Rangers were closing in on the Presidents’ Trophy. Mike Richter was in goal, and Mark Messier was on the prowl. Messier beat Erickson four times on five shots — three on the power play — as the Rangers rolled to a 6-3 win.

“I think he beat me with one of his patented wristers, coming down the off-wing,” Erickson said. “I had some friends call me and say, ‘Oh, you’re on SportsCenter.’ I said, ‘Yeah, I kind of figured I would be.’ ”

Two nights later, Erickson stopped 18 of 21 shots against San Jose en route to a 4-3 win. Against Boston two nights later, Brodeur stopped 24 of 26 shots in the first of his 656 regular-season wins, an NHL record.

“I don’t think anybody expected to get what they’ve gotten from him,” Erickson said. “I don’t think anybody could say back then that he was going to become the winningest goalie in the history of the league and bring home three Stanley Cups.”

Erickson never appeared in another NHL game.

The Devils did not let him keep his jersey — “I would love to get a hold of something like that, but I don’t know where I would start” — and never thought at the time to grab another souvenir. He has two VHS tapes, one for each game he played.

“How many hockey players can say they played two games in the NHL?” he said. “I mean, that’s something that no one can ever take away. They’re memories that I always have.”

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